The Black Cat Audiobook By Martha Grimes cover art

The Black Cat

A Richard Jury Mystery

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The Black Cat

By: Martha Grimes
Narrated by: John Lee
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Three months have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt- ridden after his lover's tragic auto accident, and he is now more wary than ever. He is deeply suspicious when requested on a case far out of his jurisdiction in an outlying village, where a young woman has been murdered behind the local pub. The only witness is the establishment's black cat, who gives neither crook nor clue as to the girl's identity or her killer's.

Identifying the girl becomes tricky when she's recognized as both the shy local librarian and a posh city escort, and Jury must use all his wits and intuition to determine the connection to subse­quent escort murders.

Meanwhile, Jury's nemesis, Harry Johnson, continues to goad Jury down a dangerous path. And Johnson, along with the imperturbable dog Mungo, just may be the key to it all.

Written with Martha Grimes' trademark insight and grace, The Black Cat signals the thrilling return of her greatest character. The superintendent is a man possessed of prodigious analytical gifts and charm, yet vulnerable in the most perplexing ways.

©2010 Martha Grimes (P)2010 Penguin Mystery Fiction Cats Exciting

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If you could sum up The Black Cat in three words, what would they be?

misdirecting. clever and fummy

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

the pace was easy

Which scene was your favorite?

the one with the 1 cats in the bar

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

dealing with the sargent

Any additional comments?

love jury and his neighvor

Jury did it againnisledingly funny and surprising

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The new narrator is terrible. If the next books are narrated by him. I am not sure I will make it through them.

Narration is awful.

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british-detective, murder-investigation, friendship, law-enforcement

Three single women discreetly living double lives are murdered and the only connection seems to be the nature of the second job and the wearing of pricey designer shoes. The investigation is twisty and convoluted enough, but there is a side issue with a couple of dogs and some look alike black cats. If you like listening to the conversations among cats and dog, this will suit very well.

The dog is the smartest one!

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Please get Steve West back to narrate. Part of the appeal of audio books is giving characters a personality. Steve West has brought these characters to life and he is needed to continue.

Need Steve West

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I think I’ve been spoiled by Steve West who has narrated the other Jury books I’ve purchased. I did not like this narrator though the story is great. It is a bit convoluted with the “thinking/reasoning” dog and cat.

Loved the book, not the narrator

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but this was so long. Too long. a good story but not sure I will get another.

I like Martha grimes

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The story like all others in the series is very good. However, the narrator, John Lee is new and takes some getting used to. His voice is nice and clear but he reads too fast most of the time and mispronounced Plant's manservant's name throughout the book. It should be pronounced "Riven" not the way he says it. This is aggravating because in previous books they continously correct Agatha ' s mis-pronouncing it (Agatha, you have been shriven by Riven.) It makes it seem like Audible is not concerned with the quality of the recordings. I would recommend Audible use the same narrator for the entire series instead of throwing the listener off by switching near the end of the series. I sure I'm not the only one that likes to listen to the entire series straight through. Another problem that is aggravating is that I have bought the entire series that's available on Audible, but the two books prior to "The Black Cat" are referred to but aren't available in audio versions. Amazon needs to make "The Winds of Change (New York: Viking Penguin, 2004) and The Old Wine Shades (New York: Viking Penguin, 2006)" available in audio so the Audible series can be complete. Throughout the series references are made to previous books and it's really disconcerting to have a block of two books missing. Although each book can be read separately, the following books build on the previous stories and it is designed to be read as a continuous story. Amazon does the readers a disservice by skipping the two books.

The Black Cat

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Not sure why the switch, but if Steve West was unavailable they would have done better to just wait. I was able to enjoy the book just on the story’s merits. I had to slow the speed down to 0.9x and did cringe whenever he pronounced Ruthven incorrectly or Palutzki. Mr Lee does have a pleasant voice, and I might enjoy him in a different milieu.

Miss Steve West

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I really don’t like the new narrator. I don’t know why they changed the perfect voice of the previous narrator

Poor narration

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Certainly the narration is different but John Lee did a good job. I would buy it again if Steve West narrated it.

Different but still good

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